ALRIGHT...IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!

So tonight is:
- "THE BIG GAME"
- "THE BIG ENCHILADA"
- "THE BRAWL FOR IT ALL"

If all the hype is true that this game is gonna be one to remember....why do I yawn at the mere mention that it's on tonight and interrupting my usual Thursday night helping of Kitchen Nightmares on FOX?

I can't understand why I simply can't get into watching an entire college football game....especially one that means so much for the sport itself. Maybe it's just the way I was raised. My parents never went to a major university although my father believes Harper College is a big deal. I also grew up in the heart of the Big 12 in Fort Worth, Texas.....which btw is home to the eleventh ranked Horned Frogs of Texas Christian.....need to make sure everyone in this town knows what I speak of. Even when I was in high school, no one I knew followed college sports like they did when it came to the friday night lights of high school football. People I grew up around could name the top 10 high school teams in baseball in the state of texas and each teams' trainer, but they didn't know who Desmond Howard was. Don't say it's just the crowd I hung around with though...I hung around with everyone (jocks, geeks, nerds, rich, poor, white, black, hispanic, asian, punks, fat, slim, etc.) That's simply not the case.

I've been trying to figure this out ever since I moved back to Illinois in 2002 and got into sportsradio in 2003. Why do college sports, especially football, seem inferior to me or lack the same excitment I have for the other 4 major sports?

Take tonight for example....you have two teams who have NEVER faced each other. Oklahoma who enjoys putting up a billion points (minimum of 35 in each game this season) on everyone including ranked teams. The Sooners take on "the chosen one" Tim Tebow and his Florida Gators. Possibly the 2 hottest teams going down the stretch in college football with offenses that average over 45 points per game. I guess if "chicks dig the long ball" in baseball....the numbers for this event will be huge. This is the final game of a BCS system that almost everyone in America says is flawed but yet if Florida pulls out a close victory...are they national champs or does Utah have a say? Where does Texas fit in all of this if Oklahoma wins? They have a strong arguement.....right?? Neutral field (Dallas) and win by 10 and Oklahoma was #1 at the time of that game.

You would figure with all the possible story lines that this game is must-see-tv. I'm sure the numbers will be huge for this game as they were with both the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, but my household probably won't contribute to the share. WHY?

Here's a question to ponder....what if a Big Ten team was in the title game....Penn State for example. Would that make it more of a must see? How about Ohio State? Northwestern? Michigan? Probably not, but WHY?

Here's the way college sports can get me to watch their title game tonight.....play it on new years day along with the rest of your major bowls. That was the whole point of football on New Years Day in the first place, right? You're celebrating the sport on a day where no other sport plays. Does the NCAA realize it's January 8....I'm in full Blackhawks happy/Bulls angst mode already. You wanna play your title game tonight and why on Thursday? Couldn't you place it on a Friday where 5th Grader and that horrible Don't Forget The Lyrics shows are on?

Do you realize that there are now 34 bowl games on the college schedule starting on December 20th and ending on January 8th. That's 19 days of college football that no one cares for because it doesn't mean anything. Do you think the average joe cares that South Florida beat Memphis in the Magicjack St. Petersburg Bowl? Do you think the average joe knows South Florida has a football team?

Maybe that's why I can't get into it. There are 68 teams playing "postseason" football in college football. Maybe the NCAA is to blame for my lack of interest in their sport. Is it like this for you as well? Too many teams playing in so little time.

I know the bowl games are a great way for smaller schools to get big time exposure on the national scene as well as getting money for participating in them. Tuition is at an all time high currently...does East Carolina University really need the money from playing in the Autozone Liberty Bowl? 24,000 students with tuition costing thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

I'm not saying a playoff system, but limit the number of bowl games to maybe half or a quarter of what you do now. Maybe then I won't have so much college football shoved in my face from mid December to mid January. Then when it gets to New Years Day....celebrate your sport with big bowl games as well as the national title game. It's just too much when every time I turn on the TV..it's college this college that..how about the Ggodaddy.com Epic Records Frank's Car Wash Bowl.

College football needs to change somehow someway whether it be playoff system or something else. I think if you limit the amount of "postseason" teams with me, it'll draw my interest more in the bigger stories of the sport....one being the final game of your "postseason."

My question to you....are you gonna watch? I won't. Let me know how it goes!!

-RoCk
Welcome your comments anytime!!!